Taking a towing test without any lessons
So, today’s little experiment has proved that the money spent on my towing/driving lessons was absolutely not wasted.
For anyone who’s not been reading prior to this, the story goes as follows:
We bought a folding camper a couple of months ago, having held out on towing for a while by having a little campervan, but decided that the family had outgrown it and wanted something bigger.
Steve can tow on his standard driving licence, but I took my standard driving test after January 1997 so I didn’t have the towing class on mine.
So, reluctantly, I decided that I really ought to pass the test and get the towing bit added to my licence – mainly in case of emergency, I can’t really imagine that I’ll tow the trailer much at all, but anyway, I had some lessons (18 hrs) in towing/driving and passed my test last week.
Afterwards, Steve and I had a little bet to see whether he could pass the test without any lessons, so my instructor gave him a mock test today.
He went off this morning, and I faffed around for a while trying to beat my own facebook tetris score (no way!), then Josiah and I went down to watch his reversing. We hid behind some recycling bins and he didn’t spot us until the end! That was good, as I really didn’t want to put him off.
I was dead impressed, as he did the reversing manoeuvre first time – only pulled forward once (you’re allowed two forward shunts in the manoeuvre) and ended up dead straight in the bay at the end. I think the instructor was probably quite impressed as that too, I imagine it is unusual for someone to do that. Then again Steve has towed a fair bit in the past, and used to reverse his car trailer into his industrial unit a few years back when we had it. Altogether, I wasn’t surprised that he did it, and figured if he’d done that ok he’d probably pass the rest.
However, he failed on the driving. I am slightly relieved in some ways, as I did want a little bit of recognition for how much like hard work it had felt to me! Then again, most of the things he got minors on were more to do with not knowing what the examiner would be looking for, rather than major driving errors. A couple of the points Steve felt were fair and he will work on them; others he felt that they were simply a matter of the driving test having changed in the past 16 years and him not knowing some of those changes. Certainly I’m sure Steve could have passed with much less tuition than me, and I also think that Andy was probably being fairly strict, but he still got 17 minor and 5 major faults, which is too many! (I got 7, last week, if anyone was wondering … not that I’m competitive or anything 
)
Being particularly cynical for a minute, I imagine any towing instructor will probably want to prove the point of instruction being necessary before taking the test Having said that, we are all agreed that some lessons are fairly essential before taking the B&E test. If you’re confident perhaps you wouldn’t need as many hours as I did, but even Steve admitted today that if he had to do it for real he’d have a couple of lessons first.
July 24th, 2007 at 14:07
so what did you win then?
July 24th, 2007 at 14:15
lol, I’d like to go all mysterious and say ‘that would be telling
‘ but the honest answer is nothing!
July 24th, 2007 at 14:29
The glory and life-long bragging rights.
July 24th, 2007 at 15:06
well hmm, but not really, as I did have 18 hrs of tuition before mine, so not quite a fair test!
July 24th, 2007 at 16:22
It was 6 majors
July 24th, 2007 at 16:24
One of them was NOT overtaking a slower vehicle and one was driving across the white circle on a mini roundabout….. starting to get the idea?
July 24th, 2007 at 16:29
I wasn’t going to say what they were, hon!
July 24th, 2007 at 17:36
Oh, I thought you could drive across those mini roundabouts – I thought the white spots were advisory and helpful when there are more vehicles around.
July 24th, 2007 at 18:16
I must admit I have thought of taking the Advanced Driving Test. If nothing else I might find out what those round signs (white with red outer borders and numbers in the middle) are for.
Certainly wouldn’t fancy taking a towing test though. Well not without a couple of large scotches for Dutch courage, anyway.
And the whole point of those white spots is that you can drive over them. They were invented by a guy who worked for Essex County Council and one of the first ones in the country was here.
The reason it was built there was because at that time there was no dual carriageway round Ipswich and all the lorries from Felixstowe dock had to pass through there. The only way they could manoeuvre round it was by swinging the trailer across the white dots.
But if they have turned round and decided you can’t use them in the way they were designed to be used then I suppose it is only the same kind of nonsense as the law which said you couldn’t use hazard lights unless you were stationary.
July 24th, 2007 at 18:48
Well, taken from further down on this page
But then I found this page!
July 24th, 2007 at 18:55
And lol, Tim, for ages I thought that white round sign with the diagonal black line through it meant you could put your foot down and go as fast as you like. After all that’s what Steve did (and my Dad, too, for that matter!).
July 24th, 2007 at 19:42
What, you are saying it doesn’t????
I suggest the following revisions to the Highway Code.
1) You are allowed to ram people who potter in the outside lane of motorways and won’t pull over.
2) Speed cameras are unsporting and police cars should be obliged to catch up with you to give you a speeding ticket. Tickets should count double if you drive a BMW.
July 24th, 2007 at 19:57
Is our Alpina exempt from that last one then?
July 24th, 2007 at 20:00
The Highway Code is to the Road Traffic Act what the Elective Home Education Guidelines are to the Education Act.
July 24th, 2007 at 20:03
Quite, what a blimming good thing there is no Home Education Test to have to pass!
July 24th, 2007 at 20:49
If you have an Alpina B5 then surely the issue will never arise?
July 25th, 2007 at 12:23
Don’t kid yourselves, it’s a BMW really…
July 26th, 2007 at 13:26
I did once get overtaken by someone racing his Alpina against a Porsche 924 Turbo.
Neither was faster than the Bavarian police Porsche 911 Turbo which pulled them both over.